


Operation Hashtag Rulie

by where_you_go



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Bisexual Julie Molina, Bisexual Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Coming Out, Cuddling, Drinking, Drunken Kissing, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Implied Public Sex, Jealousy, Making Out, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Multi, News Media, Pansexual Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Pining, Sharing Clothes, Slut Shaming, Social Media, Swearing, Trans Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), julie is a clothes thief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:00:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29183670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/where_you_go/pseuds/where_you_go
Summary: “Explain yourselves,” Caleb ground out.“Uh…it’s not what it looks like?” Reggie tried, wincing.“Oh really, Reginald? Because it looks like two of my most popular band members from a family-friendly band are fornicating in public!”-Julie and Reggie get caught up in a PR misunderstanding that leads to them "dating" for a few months. It's not a big deal, or at least it wouldn't be, if Luke would stop acting so weird.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson/Reggie Peters, Julie Molina/Reggie Peters
Comments: 154
Kudos: 290





	1. are we caught between the covers?

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go folks, I've been excited about this one for a minute. I had way too much fun making the fake gossip headlines and social media posts. This fic is finished and will be posted over the next week or so.
> 
> Chapter specific content warnings: implied public sex, slut shaming from the internet, jealousy, coming out via social media

Alright, Julie could admit that from the perspective of someone who hadn’t been there, the photos looked bad.

Well, maybe bad wasn’t the right word. They just looked like, well. Like Julie and Reggie were fucking against the side of the band’s van. That was all.

They hadn’t been! But the picture that Caleb had just slammed on the table in front of where Julie and Reggie were sitting feeling a little like middle schoolers who’d been called into the principal’s office sure made a convincing argument. In the picture, Julie had her back against the van, with her head thrown back and her loose curls were a wild mess. Her dark blue dress, embroidered with silver stars, was pushed up her thighs, exposing a significant amount of skin. Reggie was in front of her, his head bent down and angled like he was looking right down into her cleavage. He had one arm braced on the side of the van over her head and the other was on her hip, and the whole front of his body was pressed up against her from where he was clearly standing between her legs.

What had actually happened was that Julie had tripped trying to go up the curb in her new high heeled boots and had started to fall, when Reggie had reached out to grab her and steady her, but in the process managed to trip himself and they both gone flying backwards and landed hard against the side of the van. They had laughed at each other’s clumsiness and then immediately gone back inside the venue, and that was really and honestly the whole story.

Not that anyone could’ve told that from The Picture.

At the time she’d been grateful that they hadn’t landed in the street, but getting hit by a car was starting to feel like a preferable alternative to whatever conversation they were about to have with their manager.

“Explain yourselves,” Caleb ground out.

“Uh…it’s not what it looks like?” Reggie tried, wincing.

“Oh really, Reginald? Because it looks like two of my most popular band members from a family-friendly band are fornicating in public!”

Julie scrunched up her face at the phrase “family-friendly band.” They never should’ve signed with Covington Records. Caleb was a horrible micromanager, nitpicking every aspect of the music, their performances, and now, it seemed, their personal lives to make them into some Disney-esque group that he could sell to pre-teens with rich parents. When Alex very publicly come out a few years ago it had been a shitshow of epic proportions because the PR team had been concerned it would hurt ticket sales. Even though they were doing better than ever and their pride designs were some of their best selling merch of all time, Caleb had still forbid the rest of their extremely queer band from pulling a similar stunt without his approval. Like they were _children_. 

Only one more year before they could legally break this contract and find new representation. And then she and Luke could bust out all the songs they’d been hiding from Caleb ever since they realized what they’d gotten themselves tied into and they could finally make the music that they’d been dreaming about for the last four years.

Someday they’d be free of his nonsense, but that day was not today, unfortunately.

“Look, Caleb, it was an accident. We fell over and caught ourselves on the van and some paparazzi got lucky and took some photos that look bad, yeah, but we can explain, right? It’s just a big misunderstanding,” Julie pasted on her big fake ‘dealing-with-Caleb’s-dumb-moods’ smile and nodded at Reggie, hoping he would get the hint.

Reggie’s eyes widened almost comically and he started vigorously nodding his head. “Yeah, an accident! That’s it!”

Caleb sighed dramatically and rubbed at his temples.

“As you can imagine, this photo has been circulating all morning and it’s been a PR nightmare to deal with, no thanks to you two,” Caleb glared at them, but then sighed deeply. “We can’t just say it was a misunderstanding, it will look like we’re covering something up, trying to hide something. We need Julie and the Phantoms to maintain its image, as our largest demographic is teens and their parents.”

It was physically painful for Julie to refrain from rolling her eyes. Yes, Caleb, you never shut up about their demographics, move on. 

“And, while most of them found these implied acts distasteful, I was informed by the PR team that ‘hashtag rulie’ was trending on the instagram less than thirty minutes after these pictures were published.”

That made Julie sit up straighter. It was no secret that their fans spent a lot of time speculating about potential relationships between band members but _Rulie_ was a new one for her. A glance over at Reggie and his face seemed just as shocked as she felt. 

“So the plan that the PR team came up with is that you two will use your official social media accounts to confirm a relationship and issue apologies for being caught _in flagrante delicto_ because you were both so in love that you became caught up in the moment and couldn’t stop yourselves, but it will never happen again. Is this clear?”

Julie’s jaw dropped nearly to the floor in shock. Reggie made a high-pitched squeaky noise.

“You want us to _what_?”

Caleb perched on the edge of the table and crossed his arms. “Do keep up, Miss Molina. It’s not like faking a relationship will even be that difficult, you and your bandmates can barely keep your hands to yourselves as it is. You’ll just play along for, oh, let’s say three to four months, and then when the media cycle has moved on to the next drama, you two can have a quiet amicable break up where you still remain the best of friends.”

“Uh, Caleb?” Reggie actually _raised his hand,_ c’mon man they weren’t actually children, they were twenty-three for crying out loud! “What if we don’t, uh, you know, want to do this?”

Caleb’s face darkened and turned menacing and he slammed his hands down on the table in front of them and nearly snarled, “Then you should have thought of that before you were caught in a compromising position with your bandmate, Reginald. You _will_ do this, it is not up for debate. I expect the post to be up by 5 PM sharp!”

He turned on the heel of his expensive Italian leather boots and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. 

Julie leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. “I hate that guy.”

“Yeah,” Reggie sighed. “I’m sorry, Jules. This is all my fault.”

Julie turned her head to look at him, where he was slumped over in his chair and picking at the loose threads at the bottom of his Star Wars shirt. He looked dejected, like he’d dropped one of her favorite bottles of nail polish (again) and was getting ready for her to yell at him.

“Reggie, look at me,” Julie poked him in the side where she knew he was ticklish. “What are you apologizing for? For trying to keep me from falling over? This isn’t anybodies fault, it just is what it is. I’m not mad at you, I promise.”

His lips had twitched up in the faintest of smiles and she knew he was feeling better.

“Besides, this means we get to hang out more over the next few weeks! Having me as a girlfriend won’t be that bad, right?”

“Julie, you’d be the best fake girlfriend anyone could ever ask for,” Reggie said with such utter sincerity that it took her breath away for a moment. 

“And you’re gonna be a great fake boyfriend,” Julie replied, feeling out of her depth for some reason.

Reggie smiled at her and shrugged. “I just, I know you’d rather be here with Luke. I don’t want to make things awkward.”

Julie sighed and looked down at her hands. It was true, her and Luke had been dancing around their feelings for years at this point, playing the longest will-they-won’t-they game in modern history. Every time she thought she knew where she stood with Luke, that they might finally cross that bridge to more-than-friends, he’d pull back and she’d be left hanging, wondering if she’d imagined all their chemistry. It was deeply frustrating and she’d filled more than one song notebook with lyrics about Luke and his stupid floppy hair and gorgeous arms and enchanting smile and how utterly _infuriating_ he could be.

But none of that was Reggie’s fault. 

“Don’t worry about me and Luke, we’ll figure ourselves out,” Julie nudged his arm with her elbow and offered him a smile. “I’m glad it’s you. You’re one of my best friends, Reg, and we’ll get through this together.”

He reached over and wrapped an arm around her back in a side hug and she leaned into his warmth. They were going to be fine. They’d make a few social media posts, get “caught” on a few “dates,” and nothing else would really have to change. 

Yeah, this would be totally fine.

—

**GOOD GIRL JULIE MOLINA GETS FRISKY WITH A PHANTOM… _AND YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHICH ONE!_**

This weekend, TMZ sources spotted Julie Molina, international singing sensation and frontwoman for the pop rock band _Julie and The Phantoms_ , getting up close and personal with the band’s bassist, Reggie Peters.

This will probably come as a shock to their band’s loyal fans (who call themselves “Fantoms”), who have speculated for years about a relationship between Molina and lead guitarist, Luke Patterson (#Juke) based on their on stage chemistry. Still others claim that Patterson and Peters (#Ruke) have been in a secret relationship for years, but are too afraid to come out and face backlash. This rumor seemed less likely after the band's drummer, Alex Mercer, came out and proposed to his then-boyfriend all in one fell swoop two years ago, with the full support of his bandmates.

Seems like #Rulie was hiding under everyone’s noses the whole time, but based on these pictures, it sure looks like they aren’t being shy anymore!

—

Their band had a lot of rules, like don’t let Reggie cook anything more complicated than box mac and cheese or how Willie and Alex weren’t allowed to kiss for longer than ten seconds while the band was rehearsing, but there was only one huge, sacred, absolutely unbreakable rule: no secrets in the band.

Which was why the first thing that Julie and Reggie had done after their meeting with Caleb was to call an emergency band meeting at Alex and Willie’s apartment.

They were the last ones to arrive, because the traffic from the studio was always terrible (another rule: if possible, Reggie wasn’t allowed to drive). When they walked in, Alex was in the kitchen anxiously making tea for everyone like the domesticated househusband he was becoming, Luke was lying upside down on the couch but still managing to strum his guitar, and Willie, the only normal person any of them knew, was sitting on the other end of the couch, flipping through his phone.

Luke’s face lit up when he saw them, and Julie had always found that gratifying. Somedays, he was like an eager puppy and she loved it.

“Hey, your text sounded worried, what’s going on?” Luke asked without getting up.

“Alex, come sit down, we have something to tell you guys,” Julie pushed Reggie into the overstuffed recliner in the corner and then wedged herself into the space between him and the arm.

Alex hurried over and sat between Willie and Luke. “That’s not ominous at all, did someone die?”

“Not today,” Reggie said cheerfully. “But we did just come from a meeting with Caleb.”

“Ugh, fuck that guy,” everyone said in chorus. Even unplanned, their harmonies sounded so good.

“Wait a minute, why did he want to talk to just the two of you?” Alex asked, suspiciously.

Willie coughed and held up his phone. “Did it have anything to do with the picture that was on the TMZ homepage this morning?”

Julie groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Oh god, you’ve seen it.”

“What? What picture?” Luke practically did a backwards somersault to get off the couch and only barely missed crashing his feet into the coffee table. 

Reggie ran a soothing hand up and down Julie’s back while Willie flipped through his phone to bring the TMZ homepage back up to show Alex and Luke. She almost didn’t want to know what they were going to say when they saw it, but there were no secrets in the band. And anyways it was going to be all over social media eventually, there was no point in trying to hide it.

She knew when they’d seen it because Alex sucked in his breath and whispered, “oh shit.” Luke, though, was oddly silent and Julie peeked through her fingers to look at him. But his face was inscrutable as he stared at Willie’s phone.

“Jeez, I bet Caleb was _pissed_ at you guys,” Alex said. “What even was going on here? Because it definitely looks like you’re—”

“Thanks Alex! We know what it looks like!” Julie cut him off, her voice going pitchy.

“It was an accident. Julie tripped walking back from the van and I tried to grab her and we both fell over, that was it,” Reggie said.

Luke finally tore his gaze away from the phone and looked over at where Julie and Reggie were squeezed into the chair together, frowning. He asked, slowly, “So if it was all one big misunderstanding, we’re just gonna say that right? Everyone can calm down?”

“Eh, not exactly,” Reggie grimaced.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that according to Covington Records’ PR team, hashtag ‘Rulie’ is trending and it’s good for our image or demographics or something like that,” Julie rolled her eyes, but she could see Willie mouth ‘rulie?’ at Alex who just shook his head. 

“So now Julie and I have to, uh, well, appear to be in a relationship for the next couple of months?”

Julie had thought that Luke would be upset, maybe do some yelling. The boy felt his emotions very loudly and Julie had been prepared to wait out some shouting and calmly explain why this wasn’t his call, that they didn’t like this plan very much either, but they didn’t have a choice, _Luke_.

(And if he felt that strongly about who Julie was dating, maybe he should’ve done something about it sometime in the last six years or so.)

She wasn’t prepared for him to abruptly stand up and walk out of the apartment without a single word. 

“What the hell?” Julie asked, astonished and, actually, kind of pissed at his sheer audacity. He was acting like a child! He didn’t even have to do anything! She bristled and was about to go after him to give him a piece of her mind, but Reggie got there first.

“Let me talk to him, I think I know what crawled up his butt,” Reggie grumbled and followed the same path Luke had just taken out the door. 

Then it was just Julie, Alex, and Willie left staring at each other.

“Wow, ok, so this is happening,” Alex said, raising his eyebrows.

“I know it’s a mess and it’s not like we wanted to do this, but Caleb didn’t give us a choice!” Julie huffed and flopped back into the chair, pulling the sleeves of her sweater over her hands and crossing her arms.

Alex and Willie shared a look and then moved together from the couch to the recliner, practically tackling Julie in a combined hug. 

“I’m sorry people are being sucky on the internet and also that your boss sucks too,” Willie said, petting her hair.

Alex wiggled an arm underneath them both and said, “But it won’t be very long! And we’ll all help out to get Caleb off your back.”

“Yeah, we’ll call it Operation Hashtag Rulie!”

Julie snorted at that dumb name, but she was already feeling better and grateful for the group hug. “It’ll be ok, Reggie and I will just get some extra hang out time for a while. And soon enough we’ll be able to tell Caleb to go suck a thousand dicks.”

Willie lost it at that and his giggling turned out to be infectious. All three of them were still laughing and struggling to breathe when the apartment door opened and Reggie came back in, dragging a pouty-faced Luke behind him.

“Band hug!” Reggie shouted when he saw them and practically launched himself at them, landing with an “oof!” that set off another round of giggles. 

Julie looked up and saw that Luke was still standing a ways off, frowning but clearly wanting to join in. She rolled her eyes at his ridiculousness. Boys.

“Come here, Patterson, and get in on this band hug and help us plot Operation Hashtag Rulie,” Julie ordered and was pleased to see him crack the smallest of smiles before flopping down and wiggling into the space between Alex and Reggie. This old recliner probably wasn’t built to hold five adult humans but Julie loved feeling safe and surrounded by her favorite people in the whole world. They weren’t just a band, they were _family_ and after the day she’d had, she needed them all with her.

“So, just a thought,” Willie said, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled, “but you guys need to make some sort of social media post, right?”

“Yeah, Caleb said he wanted something by five ‘or else’,” Reggie said.

“I think I might have an idea that would do the job and also really piss him off, if you’re down for it?” 

Willie grinned mischievously.

—

[Image description: Two people are sitting facing each other on a beat up old couch. The person on the left is Julie Molina, the lead singer of Julie and The Phantoms, who is a Latina woman with dark curly hair that is hanging loose down her back. She is wearing a white t-shirt that says “Bi Babe” in alternating blue, pink, and purple lettering over a rainbow. The person on the right is Reggie Peters, the bassist of Julie and The Phantoms, who is a white man with dark hair falling over his forehead. He is wearing a black t-shirt that says “I put the B in LGBTQ”, also in alternating blue, pink, and purple lettering. Their faces are about an inch apart and they are gazing into each others’ eyes, wearing big smiles.]

**julie-mariposa** No more secrets for us, just love 💙💗💜 @cmonreginald 📸: @thesk8rboi #rulie #bipride #loveislove

**cmonreginald** being with you is better than pizza 😍😍😍😍😍

**flynntastic** WHAT  
**flynntastic** ANSWER YOUR PHONE JULIE

**themercerlegacy** congrats you guys 🌈

[Liked by **julieandthephantoms-official** and **789,231 others** ]


	2. is it just on the surface?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the plus side, Caleb was livid about their instagram post, but couldn't do anything about it.
> 
> On the down side, Julie found herself lying to Flynn and Luke wouldn't talk to her. At least Reggie seemed to be acclimating well to his new role as her (fake) boyfriend. Almost too well.
> 
> And the whole internet has an opinion about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter specific content warnings: jealousy, slut shaming from the internet, discussions of coming out, implied dysphoria
> 
> Luke discusses his desire to publicly come out as a trans man in this chapter and is implied to be feeling dysphoric during said discussion but it is not explicitly described (this story is from Julie's POV). As I am not a trans man, I acknowledge that I might have screwed something up. If you have concerns please reach out, either in a comment or [on tumblr](https://where-you-go.tumblr.com/).

On the plus side, Caleb had been beyond livid about their impromptu dual coming out post-slash-relationship announcement. However, after the overwhelmingly positive reception the post got, he couldn’t say anything about it publicly for fear of sounding biphobic. And technically they had done exactly what he’d asked them to do, so Willie’s plan had worked beautifully.

On the downside, their post went crazy viral, and Julie and Reggie found themselves caught in the middle of something of a media frenzy. Everyone wanted to talk to them about their coming out, how their relationship started, and even some details that Julie felt were way too personal to be shared in public. 

On the other plus side, the frenzy of their post quickly drowned out That Picture, which Julie was getting tired of seeing shared with gross comments about her everywhere. Carrie said she should take mean comments as compliments because they were clearly evidence of the writer’s jealousy, but Carrie also thought that an 8x10 photo of herself was an appropriate birthday present, so Julie tended to take her advice with a grain of salt, even if they were more like real friends these days.

But by far, the biggest downside was having to lie to Flynn. It was the most excruciating telephone conversation of Julie’s life and she was horribly grateful that she hadn’t had to try and lie to her face because she never would have been able to manage that. Flynn had definitely known that _something_ was wrong, but she didn’t actively call her out for it, so Julie thought she must have done an okay job.

After graduating college, Flynn had landed her dream job with Destiny Management and was constantly busy working her way up the ladder, and Julie had never been prouder of her best friend. However, Caleb _hated_ Flynn and thought she was trying to poach Julie and the Phantoms from Covington Records (she was, but not the point). He was constantly after Julie about their friendship and if he thought she knew the truth about Operation Hashtag Rulie then Julie was never going to hear the end of it. 

So Julie lied to her. And then spent twenty minutes crying in Willie’s arms about it. In a few months, she swore she’d take her out for brunch and tell her the whole crazy story, but living without her BFF was going to suck for a while.

But other than the constant bombardment of inappropriate questions and feeling like a total jerk for lying to her best friend, Julie was doing fine.

No, really. She was _fine_.

Actually, she was kind of surprised to find how little everything else in her life changed. They still had a band to run after all and they were in the process of recording their second album, so there was a lot of work to do, even if it still kind of felt like a dream to get to make music with her friends and call it “work”. They were constantly in and out of the studio, but now Julie just made a point of holding Reggie’s hand when they were walking outside.

Initially, Reggie had jumped every time she grabbed his hand, like he was surprised she was there. Which was a little weird, because it wasn’t like any of them were shy about physical affection. Just the other day, Luke had practically crawled into Alex’s hoodie _while he was still wearing it_ just because he’d gotten cold drinking a milkshake while the AC was on. 

He seemed to be getting more used to it, though. Now, whenever she grabbed his hand, he just looked at their linked fingers with a soft smile that she’d never really seen before. It felt like a private smile, just for her, and it made her chest feel funny. She really didn’t know what to do with that, so she ignored it mostly.

The other main aspect of Operation Hashtag Rulie was social media and the guys had really taken charge of building a believable (fake) online relationship for them. Julie tended to keep her online presence pretty strictly professional, ever since an Incident with a fan, so hers didn’t change much, aside from their initial relationship post. But Reggie’s instagram had morphed from a collection of extremely random pictures (one week it was nothing but hot dogs, which, just why?) to, well. Mostly pictures of her. 

Like really good pictures of her.

A lot of them were candid shots that she hadn’t even noticed he’d been taking, even, but she was impressed with his ability to capture sweet little moments. For example, his most recent post was from this past Saturday, when the band had been workshopping one of their new songs in the studio. Reggie had managed to sneakily grab a picture of her leaning over the keyboard to make a note on the sheet music spread out on top of the piano. Her hair was falling out of the messy bun she’d pulled it into and she was wearing her giant glasses and Reggie’s flannel shirt open over one of Luke’s cut-offs. She wasn’t smiling, her mouth was open like she’d been singing to herself, but she looked content. Focused, but soft. Totally in her element.

And then he’d captioned it “ _she’s my favorite song_ ” and the comment section had lost its collective mind. 

He was really good at this acting in love thing. Julie really needed to step her game up.

Julie was so distracted looking through Reggie’s instagram that she jumped, startled, when the man himself appeared on the other side of her table.

“Hey, sorry I’m late, Luke had this idea for the bassline in Long Weekend that he wanted me to try and then we got distracted looking up youtube videos of dogs trying to walk with shoes on, so,” Reggie shrugged.

Julie snorted into her latte and tried not to smile, but that sounded exactly like what she should expect from her disaster boys. 

“It’s fine, I was just wasting away here, all by myself, no one to keep me company,” Julie gave the heaviest, most dramatic sigh possible, but couldn’t help the grin that started to spread on her face.

“Well in that case, you must be given extra attention for a quick revival!” And then he dragged his chair to her side of the table so he could wrap both arms around her and nuzzle into her neck. His hair tickled her nose and caused her to laugh.

“Alright! Alright! Stop being a goof so I can drink my coffee!”

Reggie grinned and ran a hand through his messed up hair, but he left one arm around her shoulders. She could admit, at least in the privacy of her own mind, that it felt nice to have it there.

Besides, the whole reason they were meeting up for coffee today was to get caught on a date. Something cutesy and sweet and not at all like they might be having sex in public. So Julie had chosen one of her favorite coffee shops. It wasn’t too crowded but she knew enough people from the music scene hung out here that there was a pretty good chance that some annoying paparazzi would get some photos of them.

So not only was it totally fine for her to lean in closer to Reggie and rest her head on his shoulder, it would have been weird if she _didn’t_ do that. 

Yeah. That was the only reason why she did it.

Reggie, for his part, played along beautifully. He curled his arm tighter around her shoulders, playing with the ends of her curls and twirling them around his fingers. With his free hand he reached over and pulled her coffee mug towards him so he could steal a sip of her latte, completely ignoring Julie’s indignant, “hey!”

“Mmmm that’s really good,” Reggie said, deliberately smacking his lips near her ears to be obnoxious. Julie poked at the ticklish spot on his side in retaliation.

“It’s the extra cinnamon,” she said, taking her coffee back.

Reggie looked like he was thinking about trying to steal her coffee again, but must have decided against it. Instead he leaned closer and asked, “What were you looking at when I got here? Did Carlos send you any more theories about the ghosts that are haunting your house?”

“Shut up, there are no ghosts in our house, Carlos just has an overactive imagination,” Julie rolled her eyes. “I was looking at your instagram, actually. I didn’t know you were such a good photographer, Reg.”

“Ah, well,” Reggie stammered and high spots of pink appeared on his cheeks. “Willie’s been giving me some pointers, you know, and Luke’s been helping me with the captions, since he’s better with words than I am, so it’s just, you know…” he trailed off and gave a little half-shrug to avoid jostling her.

He was so cute when he blushed, Julie thought vaguely and then very carefully did not analyze where the heck that had come from. 

“Take some credit, dude. Willie wasn’t there on Saturday so I know you took that one by yourself and it’s really good!” 

Reggie ducked his head down to hide his face in Julie’s hair but she could feel him smiling so she was going to count that as a win.

(She really wanted to ask if Luke had written that caption - _she’s my favorite song_. Did Luke think that? Why didn’t he just tell her that? But she was on a date with Reggie, even if it was a fake one, and she was supposed to be acting in love with Reggie, so she tucked away her unending questions about Luke for later.)

“Anyway, I want you to look at these lyrics I was thinking about during my drive yesterday, I jotted them down in my phone,” Julie said brightly, thumbing the notes app open on her phone. Music was easier to talk about. Less emotionally charged, more normal. “Tell me what you think about them, I’m stuck on this one part here.”

Julie glanced up to show Reggie which part she was pointing at, and he was looking at her with an odd look on his face.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just…normally you do this kinda thing with Luke, is all.”

“Well, Luke isn’t here right now, is he?” Julie quirked a smile at him. “Besides, you help us with lyrics all the time. This isn’t that weird. C’mon, Reginald, take the phone.”

“Okay, okay, let me see it,” Reggie grinned and reached out to pull the phone closer him by wrapping his hand loosely around her wrist. He focused on the screen, slowly running his thumb and down over the soft skin at the base of her thumb while he read her words and Julie had to bite her lip to suppress a full-body shudder. 

It was so _intimate_. 

What was wrong with her today? This was just Reggie — goofy, fun, sweet Reggie. One time she’d watched him get Alex’s drumsticks stuck up nose on a dare, for crying out loud. And now here she was getting lost in this date fantasy?Get a grip, Molina.

“You know what this really needs? A banjo solo!”

And then all the tension in Julie broke and she was cracking up laughing. _That_ was the Reggie she knew. 

“Save it for the country album, cowboy.”

“Aha! So you finally admit that we’re going to make a country album!”

Julie shook her head, still giggling. It had just been too long since she’d been on a date or something. Touch-starved, maybe. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter, she only had to be Reggie’s fake girlfriend for a little while and then things could really get back to normal.

—

**JULIE MOLINA AND REGGIE PETERS WENT ON THE CUTEST DATE EVER AND NOW WE BELIEVE IN LOVE AGAIN** ****

[Image description: A man and a woman are sitting in a coffeeshop in two wooden chairs that have been pushed next to each other. The man is sitting upright on the left, and his eyes are crossed as he attempts to look at the dollop of whip cream that is on his nose. The woman is turned in her chair to face the man and she appears to be laughing, with one hand over her mouth and the other braced on his arm.]

**57 Comments — Log in to Comment** ****

**shiningbright  
** #Rulie proves that romance is still alive and thriving

**istillbelieveinjuke  
** idk i think that luke is hotter than reggie and she really traded down

**AshleySmashley  
** **@istillbelieveinjuke** First off, it was never confirmed that Julie and Luke were dating. Second, how dare you say anything against the cutest Phantom, Reginald Peters??? Go find somewhere else to be negative

**dirtixoxocandi  
** they are gonna have the cutest babies!!!!

**no1fantom  
** I need to find me a man who looks at me like Reggie looks at Julie #RulieSupremacy

—

For as easy as things were between Julie and Reggie, she was finding that there was a new tension in the air every time she was around Luke and she didn’t like it. This wasn’t their normal flirty tension as they hung out in the studio or the absolutely searing tension that occurred when they made eye contact on stage — no, she could handle those. Had been handling those, for years at this point.

This new tension made their interactions stilted and awkward. Luke’s moods seemed to shift restlessly, going from bouncy and excitable one moment to closed off and cold in a split second. Every time she tried to ask what was going on, he just shrugged or changed the subject. 

Julie felt like she was losing her mind. 

Luke was one of her _best friends_. They had always been able to talk about anything. She had called him the night her mom had died and he had talked her out of quitting the band. He had told her about his own strained relationship with his mother and she had helped him reach out and begin mending those rifts. From the very first moment they had met, it was like their very souls were connected on a level that went deeper than she had the words to describe.

So the fact that he wouldn’t talk to her now was driving her absolutely bananas. 

“Alright, enough of this,” Julie said, angrily closing the lid on the piano keyboard.

Luke’s head snapped up from where he had been curled up in the corner of the couch with his notebook refusing to speak to her for nearly half an hour, startled by the sound of the snap. “What’s wrong?”

“Why don’t you tell me, hm?” Julie moved to sit on the coffee table in front of the couch, crossing her arms over her light pink blouse.

Luke spluttered out a denial but Julie just put her hand up. “No. No way, I don’t want to hear it. You’re the one that asked to come over so we could write today but you haven’t said a word to me since you got here. Something’s up with you, you’ve been acting weird for the last couple of weeks. Rule number one, Luke: no secrets in the band. So tell me what’s wrong and we can figure out how to fix it.”

Luke scowled down at his notebook, but Julie could out-stubborn any of her bandmates. She didn’t move from her spot, just stared him down until he finally cracked, heaving a huge sigh.

“I’m jealous,” he mumbled into the collar of his hoodie without raising his eyes to look at her.

“Wait, really?” Julie was shocked. Was it really going to be this easy? She thought she’d have to prod at him for at least an hour, but he was really just going to up and admit it. Ok, this whole afternoon might have to be rethought. 

“Yeah, I mean it’s just you and Reg—” Julie felt her heart rate pick up, “—and Alex are all like, getting to do your thing and I just feel left out, you know?”

Any excitement she had been feeling turned instantly into confusion. “No, I don’t know, what are you talking about? Me, Reggie, and _Alex_?”

Luke tugged on the sleeve of his hoodie with his teeth. “Yeah, you know, now that you and Reg made that instagram post, I’m the only one in the band who isn’t out. And I guess I’m just jealous that you guys are able to be open now and I’m feeling like I’ve been locked in this closet and I just hate it.”

Julie felt her heart sink as she listened to Luke. Of course he was upset about this — they talked all the time about their post-Caleb plans and he’d always said that a shirtless photoshoot was at the top of his to do list. He’d fought so hard for so long for his identity and Caleb had forced him back into hiding. And now that she was thinking about it, she noticed that he was wearing Alex’s giant pink hoodie that he usually only stole when he was feeling dysphoric.

How could she have been so selfish, thinking this was about a silly crush when Luke was feeling torn up inside about this. _God,_ she was the worst friend.

“Oh _Luke_ ,” Julie said softly, “Are you up for cuddles or do you need some space?”

Instantly, Luke’s hands were outstretched and reaching for her and she let herself be pulled on the couch and rearranged until they were a comfortable tangle of limbs. Luke rested his head on her shoulder and buried his face in her neck, arms wrapped tight around her waist. She dropped a kiss on his hair and tightened her arms around his shoulders, hoping that her embrace could offer him some comfort.

Luke sighed again and she felt his warm breath rush over her collarbone.

“I just…when I was a kid, I would have given anything to know that there were guys like me out there chasing their dreams and doing what they loved. I just want to be that guy, you know? For all the other trans kids out there who’s parents don’t understand or who have been told that they won’t make it or their dreams aren’t worth it. I just want to give them the hope I needed when I was younger.”

“I know, Luke, and I’m so sorry. Reggie and I didn’t mean to throw this in your face or make you feel left out,” Julie murmured.

Luke shrugged. “It’s not your fault I’m being dumb.”

“Hey,” Julie poked him in the side, “This isn’t dumb at all. What’s dumb is Caleb’s bullshit. If it were up to me, we’d do a live right now and tell everyone in the whole world that Luke Patterson is a trans dude and it’s the best thing ever!”

She could feel his whole body shaking against her with suppressed laughter. 

“Who you are is amazing, Luke, and everyone should know it. And I swear, in — what’s the official count?”

Luke glanced at his phone and said, “Three hundred and thirty-one days.”

“Right — in three hundred and thirty one days we are breaking free of Caleb and his stupid contract and you will never be forced to hide ever again, I promise.”

“Big talk from a girl who can’t reach the top shelf without help,” he snarked, but she could tell he was just trying to cover up for the sniffling she could hear. 

“Damn right. And anyone who disagrees with me will have to answer to the scariest people I know.”

“Alex and Reggie?”

“Are you kidding? Those two are big softies. I meant Flynn and Carrie.”

“Ohhh yeah.” Luke snuffled again. “You think they’d back me up?”

“I know they will. We all will,” Julie promised, running one hand gently through his hair. He hummed happily against her neck and she kept up the motion until she felt his whole body relax against her as he drifted into sleep. 

She loved moments like these. To know that he trusted her so deeply with all of his secrets, his wishes and dreams; trusted her enough to let her hold him through rough moments and fall asleep in her arms. 

Sometimes she could convince herself that this would be enough for her. Because this was already more intimate than any other relationship she’d ever been in, what more could she truly wish for? Kissing? Sex? She couldn’t bear losing him over something so meaningless in the grand scheme of things. 

She loved him so much it felt like her heart would burst with it sometimes. 

Snuggled comfortably into the couch cushions and Luke’s body radiating warmth against her front, Julie found herself succumbing to the urge to join him in their unscheduled nap. 

The sound of the door of the garage scraping against the floor dragged her out of her doze and she looked up to see Reggie sheepishly sneaking in with cartoonishly large steps. He waggled his fingers in a silent greeting and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Hey,” he whispered, crouching down in front of the couch so he was at eye level. “Didn’t mean to interrupt, your dad just wanted me to let you know that your tía is bringing dinner over at six. He said we could stay, but I think Alex and Willie have date night plans.”

Reggie ran a hand lightly over Luke’s covered arm. “I didn’t realize Luke was having a hoodie day. Is he ok?”

The look on Reggie’s face was so full of tenderness that it made Julie’s teeth ache. Then he shifted his gaze from looking down at Luke to meet her eyes and nothing prepared her for the full force of his affection to hit her head on. 

Was this new? Was she reading into things? Why had she never seen this before? 

She swallowed past the lump that had formed in her throat and quietly croaked out, “Yeah, I think he will be. We talked about it and there’s just been a lot of stress recently, I guess. Our little photoshoot didn’t help.”

Reggie made a small wounded noise in the back of his throat and Julie reached out to grab his hand and give it a squeeze.

Their quiet conversation must’ve woken Luke, because he stirred, lifting up his head and asked groggily, “Jules? Reg? Wass goin’ on?”

“Nothing, Reggie was just checking on us, you can go back to sleep,” Julie whispered soothingly.

“Ok, good,” Luke’s head dropped back down to Julie’s chest, but his arm flailed out behind him towards Reggie until he found the edge of Reggie’s shirt to grab on to. “Reg, come join us, it’s nap time.”

Reggie grinned but didn’t resist, cramming himself onto the couch and wiggling around until he found a comfortable spot. His head was on Julie’s stomach, his face was planted into Luke’s armpit, and his feet were dangling off the arm of the couch, but he sighed contentedly when he settled down.

Julie moved her hand so that she could run her fingers through Reggie’s hair too and he pressed his head up into the soft pressure she applied. 

Having both of them here in her arms settled something restless in her chest. If only they could stay like this forever, perfectly tucked away from the prying eyes of the world and people like Caleb who could only see dollar signs when they looked at them. No more lying or hiding or sneaky photos or mean comments or anything other than just each other.

Julie fell asleep and dreamed of holding both Luke and Reggie’s hands and when she woke up a few hours later to Carlos knocking on the garage door, she didn’t know how to feel about that. 

—

**TROUBLE IN PARADISE FOR OUR FAVORITE PHANTOMS?**

[Image description: In the foreground of the picture, there is a man and woman holding hands as they walk side-by-side along a sidewalk. The woman is holding an iced coffee out to the man and he is leaning forward to take a sip from the straw. They are looking into each other’s eyes, and she has a wide grin and a scrunched up nose. In the background of the picture, there is a white man wearing a black beanie, a white long-sleeved t-shirt, and baggy jeans. He has his hands stuffed in the pockets of the jeans and he is hunched over, scowling at the back of the couple in front of him.]

Anonymous sources tell PEOPLE that not everything is as rosy as it seems for our new favorite celeb couple. Julie Molina and Reggie Peters confirmed their relationship status AND came out via a viral instagram post last month (Check out our other favorite bisexual celebs  here !). Everyone seems to be head over heels for #Rulie, but is trouble looming for this power couple?

Luke Patterson, who had been long rumored to be in a relationships with both Molina and Peters, seems to be less than pleased with the developing relationship between his bandmates. 

Is this jealousy rearing its ugly head? How will this affect the band? Can we expect a break up in the near future?


	3. do you feel it when you kiss me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's acting weird, but Julie is sure that after this performance they can just sit down and talk like adults.
> 
> Spoiler alert: what they actually do is...not that. And of course, they do it where everyone is watching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @all my lovely commenters who told me how soft and sweet this fic is: I'm sorry. Almost.
> 
> Chapter specific content warnings: jealousy, slut shaming from the internet, drinking, making bad choices while drinking, kissing while drinking, potentially dubious consent, clothes-on grinding

Julie and The Phantoms had been performing as a band for over six years now, and Julie still got the pre-performance jitters every time. At least she didn’t throw up before every performance anymore. That had been a rough time for everyone.

But she was still sitting in the green room and fidgeting. If Alex hadn’t taken her make up away from her, she’s sure she would have taken off and reapplied her lipstick at least eight times by now.

It wasn’t that she was nervous for the show, not really. She loved performing with her band. She loved how in sync they had become — when they first started out, performing with the guys was electrifying but there was so much uncertainty. Now she knew when to expect Luke’s head nods, Reggie’s bounces, and Alex’s grins. They had a rhythm down and it still made her chest feel like it was full of electricity, but now she wasn’t afraid she was going to be shocked.

It was the restless energy that was just waiting to be released on stage that gave her the jitters. Luke’s bouncing across the green room didn’t help, either. Or that they were one of the last bands to go on tonight, so they had extra time to waste backstage. 

She’d just started to pick at her manicured nails when a hand reached out to grab her fingers and forced her to stop. When she looked up, Reggie was wearing that crooked grin of his and it made the corners of his eyes crinkle. She wasn’t sure when she started noticing that, but now she saw it every time.

“Don’t chip your nails right before the show. They’re too pretty,” he said, running his thumbs gently over her painted nails. They were matching today, because she did both of their nails yesterday while they had some down time. His were black with one purple accent finger and hers were purple with a black accent. She loved the way they looked when they held hands.

It would probably be all over twitter tomorrow with the way people analyzed the most minute details about them.

“Thanks, Reg. You’re my nail savior.”

He ducked his head and blushed. 

“Actually, I wanted to give you something,” he said and then began shrugging off the blue and black flannel he was wearing over a black muscle tank. Red was Reggie’s signature color, but he’d been branching out in terms of flannel colors over the last few weeks in order to coordinate with her outfits and the gossip sites had been eating it up. This one matched her black skinny jeans and off-the-shoulder glittery blue top perfectly, which became apparent when he draped it around her shoulders.

“You’re always stealing clothes from one of us, so I thought it might help to calm your jitters a little bit. You can always take it off before we go on,” Reggie shrugged.

“Nuh-uh, no way, this is mine now.” Julie grinned and pulled the sleeves of the flannel over her fingers, wrapping herself up in it. It was still warm with Reggie’s body heat and that thought sent a jolt through her. “Besides, I’m sure our fans will lose their minds if they see me perform wearing your clothes.”

“Our fans! Right!” Reggie’s voice was awkwardly high-pitched, and when she glanced up at him, he was looking down at his hands. “Yeah, can’t wait for our fans to post all about it, haha.”

There was something _off_ about his tone of voice that Julie couldn’t pin down. Was he tired of their charade? Maybe he wanted to fake break up with her early?

The idea made her stomach turn. 

Instead of dwelling on that thought, Julie grabbed her bag and started rummaging through it until she found what she was looking for. 

“Here,” she said, holding up her purple enamel dahlia pin. “You can wear this and then we’ll both have something from each other.”

“Oh, well — uh, if you’re sure, I guess,” Reggie squeaked but didn’t fight her when she reached over and fixed the pin to the right side of his top where it wouldn’t be in the way of the strap of his bass while they played. She ran her fingers over the pin, spinning it slightly. She liked the way it looked on him, she thought idly. He should always be wearing her mark.

Then she realized that she was basically petting his pec and she snatched her hand back. She could feel her cheeks heating up. Could she be any more embarrassing?

She heard Reggie gulp and looked up at him to see that he was blushing just as much as she was, red splotches spreading down his cheeks and neck, disappearing under his shirt. He was staring at her wide-eyed, expression full of something like awe. He was always looking at her like that, she realized, like he was amazed to just be in her presence.

A pointed cough from across the room broke the tension of the moment. Julie whipped her head around to see Alex awkwardly looking at the ceiling and spinning a drumstick around his fingers. Luke was sitting next to him, glowering at the open notebook in his lap.

Before Julie could even begin to process the weird vibes that had settled in the green room, the stage manager stuck his head in the door and called out, “Julie and The Phantoms? You’re on in five! We need you in the wings!”

Luke jumped out of his seat and stomped his way out of the green room without looking at anyone and Reggie practically ran out behind him. Julie was left looking bewildered at Alex, who just raised his hands and shook his head, saying, “Do not ask me what’s up with those weirdos. I am not involved in this at all.”

“Whatever,” Julie said, rolling her eyes. She shrugged off Reggie’s flannel and tied it around her waist so she wouldn’t get overheated and followed Alex out of the room. “Let’s just get this performance over with, yeah? And then we can all sit down and talk like adults.”

Alex snorted, “Sure, Jules. Let me know how that goes for you.”

Julie thought that sarcasm was unnecessary. Alex was just being pessimistic. They would sort everything out.

All they had to do was get through this show. They were pros at this by now. Everything would be fine.

—

**JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS - LIVE AT THE SATELLITE - MOST EPIC MOMENTS OF FAIL**

[Video Description: A 8:07 minute video composed of shaky cellphone footage of the most recent performance by Julie and the Phantoms at The Satellite Bar’s Spring Fling Showcase in Los Angeles on Friday night. In the first shot, Julie Molina, the lead singer, stands up from her keyboard to dance on the stage, but none of her bandmates join her. She looks confused and goes to stand with Alex Mercer, the drummer, who also looks confused. In the next clip, Reggie Peters, the bassist, nearly knocks over his microphone after jumping away from Julie when she came to his side of the stage and he has to pause his playing to catch it. In the final shot, Luke Patterson, the lead guitarist, turns his back to Julie and she runs into him and almost knocks them both over.]

**Jake P.  
** My daughter is a big fan of their music but I don’t think I want to waste money on tickets if this is what a show will be like.

**femme gabby  
** omg is julie wearing reggie’s shirt????? #rulie #brightforever

**PhantomLuv4Life  
** **@femme gabby** ummmmmmmmmm i think reggie is wearing julie’s dahlia pin! you can see it if you pause at  2:47 and zoom in! #rulie is toooooo cute 😍😍😍

**Sam H.  
** **@femme gabby** lol no wonder luke is acting jealous, what a baby ****

**Constance Mayhew  
** Is Julie Molina really a good model for our young daughters? Look at how she flaunts her sexuality! Seducing multiple men! I will be praying for her and for all the young women who need to accept Christ’s guiding light and repent from their paths of sin!

—

“Oh my god,” Julie whined and laid her head down on the bar. “That was awful.”

Willie sympathetically patted her back, but didn’t try to refute her words. That’s how she knew it really was awful.

A shot glass filled with tequila was placed on the bar in front of her and Julie grabbed it and quickly slammed it back, signaling the bartender for another. 

“Whoa, okay, Jules, I know that was a rough performance, but maybe you should take it a little slower with the shots? You’re gonna make yourself sick,” Willie said, alarmed.

Julie made eye contact with him over the edge of her glass and scowled. “I know you only have eyes for your boy-toy but you can’t tell me that you didn’t notice how awkward that whole performance was.”

“Well the music was as amazing as always, there’s that!” Willie tried. “But yeah, you guys were definitely…off tonight.”

“Off? _Off?!”_ Julie put her head back down. “Luke and Reggie wouldn’t even _look_ at me, let alone each other. They barely moved from their mics, like weird singing statues. Luke didn’t once nod at me to come over and every time I tried, he put his back to me! I ran straight into him!”

Willie grimaced. “Yeah ok, it was kind of a disaster. But at least it was only a showcase? So it’s not like they were weird for a whole show or something.”

Julie just groaned. _Gracias a Dios_ for tequila so that she could hopefully forget this whole stupid night.

“This’ll all blow over, it’s not as big of a deal as you’re making it, Jules.”

“Yeah, after Caleb calls us in to yell at us, _again_.”

Another glass appeared in front of Julie and she took that shot just as quickly as the other two. It burned on the way down and she noticed that she was starting to feel a little hazy. Maybe Willie was right and she should take it easy. Or eat something. She’d skipped dinner before the show because of her jitters and drinking on an empty stomach was probably a bad plan. 

“Whatever,” Julie sighed, straightening up. “I should go find Luke anyway since he drove me here. Maybe he’ll stop being a child and talk to me on the drive home.”

She stood from the barstool and felt extremely proud of herself for not wobbling even a little bit. She looked down and noticed that she still had Reggie’s flannel tied around her waist. Without thinking, she untied it and pulled it on, feeling almost instantly warmer. 

Or maybe that was the alcohol. Who knows. 

Willie was looking at her, brows furrowed. “Are you sure, Jules? Alex and I can always give you a ride.”

She waved him off. “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“Ok but text us if you can’t find him, okay?” Willie waited until she agreed before continuing, “And I promise, everything will turn out alright. You guys are too amazing to let this get in your way.”

Julie felt her face soften into a smile. “Thanks Willie. I’m so glad Alex introduced you to us, he’s so lucky to have someone like you.”

“Yeah, he is,” Willie grinned and gave her a short hug. 

Julie laughed and pulled away, heading off towards the wings. Luke was sure to be hiding backstage somewhere, she just had to find him and get him to use his big boy words. 

Julie had thought they’d talked everything out last week. He’d been acting less weird even! They were closer to their normal interactions, back to his touchy-feely hugging and infectious grins. She didn’t know what had changed tonight, what had set off this new round of moodiness and why he had let it affect his performance. 

And Reggie had been off too, which made half the band acting weird for reasons she couldn’t explain.

The only thing that was different that she could think of was that moment of tension in the green room before the show. That had definitely been a strange moment, but they both knew that this relationship thing was fake, right?

She curled her fingers around the edges of the sleeves of Reggie’s flannel and shivered as she thought about the way he had looked at her.

Did _she_ remember that this relationship was fake?

Julie smiled at the venue staff member that let her in the backstage door, but then froze about two steps on the other side, barely noticing the door swinging shut with a loud thud behind her.

Luke was standing in front of a short, brown-haired girl that Julie recognized as a fan who came to a lot of their local shows. She was wearing a black Julie and The Phantoms t-shirt that had been tied into a crop top over a pleated pink skirt, and she was resting her back against the wall. Luke was leaning over her with his right forearm against the wall above her head to hold him up. 

She giggled and reached one hand out to rest it on his bicep. Luke grinned and said something that Julie couldn’t hear, but she knew that smile. 

She knew it because he usually looked at _her_ like that.

Julie could feel the acrid taste of bile rising in the back of her throat, hot tears burning at the edges of her eyes. She stumbled backwards with a loud gasp, whirling around and ignoring Luke’s shout of “Julie!” as she flung the door open and stumbled back through it and into the crowd. She couldn't look back, couldn’t handle seeing even one more second of —

Of what exactly? 

She and Luke weren’t anything more than bandmates, not officially. No matter how much dancing around they’d done for the last few years, she didn’t have any more claim on him than he had on her. So why did it feel like betrayal to see him flirting with someone else? 

Fine. If that’s how he wanted it, two could play at that game.

She made her way towards the row of booths along the back wall, where she knew Alex and Reggie typically staked out a table after performances at this particular venue. Sure enough, Reggie was sitting in front of a half-eaten plate of fries, flipping through something on his phone. Perfect.

Julie strode boldly up to the booth, the shots from earlier providing her with some extra liquid courage, and smoothly straddled him, knees landing on the vinyl of the seat on either side of his hips. He startled, but before he could react more, Julie grabbed the phone out of his hand and tossed it on the table behind her. 

“Reginald,” she said, bracing her hands on either side of his head. 

“Julie,” he replied. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates as he stared up at her. “What’s — uh, what’re you doing?”

She ignored his question. “You think I’m pretty, right?”

“What?” Reggie blinked, confused. “I mean, yes, of course. You’re gorgeous, Jules.” 

His sincerity caught at something right between her ribs and her breath hitched. God, she didn’t deserve him.

“I think you should kiss me, then,” she said instead of the hundred other things she might’ve said that felt too vulnerable for this moment. She came over here for a reason, dammit, and she was determined to follow through.

She could practically feel the heat radiating from Reggie’s blush as he turned an adorable shade of pink. 

“Wh-what?” he stammered, but she saw him glance down at her lips and she knew he wanted it too.

“Kiss me, Reg, please,” Julie whispered, moving her face so that their lips were mere centimeters apart and she could feel his breath moving across her lips. 

Maybe the _please_ was playing it a little dirty but it clearly worked, as Reggie practically surged forward, capturing her lips in one of the most intense kisses of her life. 

Not that she’d had all that many, mind you. But still. Reggie was unfairly good at this.

His lips were a firm, warm pressure against her own, insistent and sure enough to overwhelm her, but still gentle in a way that was identifiably Reggie. Every movement of his mouth was intoxicating and her already dizzy mind spun even further away from her. She felt like she was drowning in his touch and she wasn’t sure she wanted to come up for air ever again. 

His lips parted and he slowly, almost teasingly, swiped his tongue along the part of her mouth and she couldn’t stop the moan that practically burst out of her chest. Then his tongue was _in her mouth,_ licking the last traces of tequila from the deepest corners, sliding smoothly against her own tongue. Experimentally, she sucked lightly on his tongue and shuddered hard when his groan reverberated through her mouth. She wanted to make him sound like that _all the time_. 

Julie realized her hands were clinging desperately to the back of the booth, as if she was trying to not to be swept away by Reggie’s kiss, but that was clearly a lost cause by now. She pried her hands loose and brought them to Reggie’s neck so she could cling to him instead. 

His hands slid up to rest along the small of her back, under his own flannel that she was still wearing. He pulled her close to him, so she was sitting fully in his lap, his front a long line of heat pressed against her. She was hyperaware of every inch of him that was touching her and she wanted so much more. She wiggled around to bring herself even closer, when his fingers clenched in the flesh of her sides and he groaned again, pulling away from her mouth to gasp, and that’s when she realized what she was feeling.

He was _hard_ underneath her. _Because_ of her.

Julie’s entire body flared with heat at the thought and she rolled her hips again, harder, more purposefully this time.

“Fuck, Julie,” he whined.

The way her name sounded on his lips was like nothing she’d ever heard before. She wanted to kiss it out of his mouth, chase the taste of that feeling until her name was the only thing he knew how to say.

She was about to lean down and do just that when suddenly she heard Luke’s voice, cutting through the haze in her mind and the noise of the bar to bring her crashing abruptly back into reality.

“Julie? Reggie?”

Oh, _fuck_.

Luke was standing next to the booth, staring at them with an unreadable expression on his face. Reggie froze underneath her, all of his warmth suddenly gone cold, and he refused to meet anyone’s eyes.

And Julie…

Julie didn’t know what she was doing anymore. She thought she’d come over here so that Luke would catch her with Reggie and feel the same jealousy she’d felt when she saw him with that girl, but she couldn’t even begin to deny the way she’d almost instantly lost herself in Reggie’s kiss. She hadn’t been thinking about her stupid revenge plan at all. 

She loved Luke. She knew she did, but what she felt for Reggie wasn’t nothing, either.

It was beyond time to admit the truth to herself, that she was having very real feelings for both of them. But these past few weeks she’d been such a mess that she’d basically been _using_ them, tugging their hearts around and acting like she didn’t have a choice.

No wonder the band had been off tonight and it was _all her fault_. 

And now they both probably hated her.

_Great job ruining your own life, Molina,_ said a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Carrie Wilson.

It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room and Julie couldn’t breathe, she needed to get out of there. She stumbled gracelessly off of Reggie’s lap, barely finding her feet underneath her. Everything was too much right now — the lingering taste of Reggie in her mouth, the feel of Luke’s shocked eyes on her, the tequila shots roiling in her otherwise empty stomach all combined to make her dizzy and overwhelmed. 

“I — I’m sorry,” she mumbled and words tasted sour and guilty, but she didn’t have anything else to offer them.

Luke and Reggie were silent and still despite the noise and movement of the bar around them and she couldn’t take it anymore. Julie spun on her heel as fast as her vertigo would allow and left before anyone could see her start crying.

—

**Perez Hilton** _@PerezHilton - 8h  
_ Julie and The Phantoms were a hot mess last night — on AND off the stage! 

**Perez Hilton** _@PerezHilton - 8h  
_ _Replying to @PerezHilton  
_ Julie Molina and Reggie Peters got caught making out in a public place AGAIN — and this time we have video!

**Perez Hilton** _@PerezHilton - 7h  
_ _Replying to @PerezHilton  
_ OMG check out Luke Patterson’s reaction to seeing his bandmates getting hot and heavy! His face is practically a meme.

**Geoffrey** _@laydeez_man - 6h  
_ _Replying to @PerezHilton  
_ Turns out the stage isn’t the only place Julie’s happy to perform 👀

**i got a 💥 spark 💥 in me** _@butterfliesandglitter - 6h  
_ _Replying to @PerezHilton and @ladiez_man  
_ ew could you not be disgusting in public and learn to RESPECT people’s privacy???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you listen to [Good Things Fall Apart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Zjgb03FMQ) while you read this chapter, I promise it makes everything worse 🙃
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who's left comments or kudos, ilu <3 <3


	4. is this the real thing?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie's starting to realize that all her plans recently have been pretty terrible. And there's a lot more miscommunication going around than she even realized. Luckily for her, the one person in this family with a brain cell has just showed up to get things back on track and force them all to actually talk. After brunch, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter specific content warnings: jealousy, so much miscommunication, self-deprecation, coming out

“Time to get your ass out of bed, underachiever!” 

Julie groaned and wrapped the borrowed comforter even tighter around her head. She didn’t want to get up and have to deal with her hangover, her mess of a love life, and the potential implosion of the best thing that had ever happened to her. Her plan was to make herself into a blanket burrito and stay on Alex and Willie’s couch for the next eighty-five years or so. She could call it modern art and charge people admission to watch her be pitiful. 

The covers were suddenly ripped off of her. Julie winced as the late morning sunlight shone directly into her eyes. So much for that plan.

“Well? I told you to get up.”

Flynn was standing at the end of the couch, comforter held aloft like a trophy. Julie blinked blearily at her.

“Flynn? What’re you doin’ here?” Her head felt like it was full of spikes and her mouth tasted like she licked the bottom of her shoes. Ugh, she hated hangovers.

“I called her!” Alex’s voice came from somewhere distant. “You’re a mess, girl. You need an intervention, so I brought in a professional.”

Ugh, she was going to kill him. Willie could live, though, because he hadn’t asked any questions when he found her crying outside the bar last night. He just took her back to their place and let her crash on their couch, like the absolute prince that he was. 

Willie’s head popped into her line of sight and he quickly bent down to smack a kiss on her forehead. “He’s right, you know. We told her about Operation Hashtag Rulie. You should get up.”

She scowled at him, mentally taking back all the nice things she had just thought about him.

Flynn and Willie did some complicated secret handshake thing that they had invented at Willie’s bachelor party and refused to teach anyone else, before Flynn turned her attention back to Julie. 

“Obviously I am here because you are a disaster who can’t function without my presence in your life. Also, you’re buying me brunch, so let’s go.”

Julie groaned but let Flynn grab her by the arms and haul her to standing. From there, her best friend essentially bullied her into showering, brushing her teeth, and dressing in the cute but comfortable sundress that Flynn produced seemingly out of thin air.

Flynn was _magic_. How had Julie survived not talking to her for so long?

A short car ride later and Flynn was kissing the cheeks of the maître d’ at a very exclusive brunch place and bypassing the line to be seated in a secluded corner booth. 

There was already coffee on the table when they got there. This was Julie’s new favorite restaurant, even if she couldn’t remember the name. 

Flynn ordered for them both, graciously allowing Julie to down three cups of coffee and get her brain online before she leveled her most menacing stare across the table.

“I got the most interesting series of notifications this morning.”

“Flynn, I—”

“No. No, stop talking. I’m talking now and then you _will_ explain what the hell is going on exactly.”

Julie shrank back in her chair, cradling her fourth cup of coffee against her chest. It could be worse, she supposed. It could be Caleb yelling at her right now. At least Flynn _liked_ her. Or she used to.

Flynn cleared her throat. “First, I had a text from Willie asking how to convince you to stop taking tequila shots. Then, I had three increasingly hysterical voicemails from Alex asking me to come check on you this morning. Then I got a call from my boss saying that Caleb Covington was having a temper tantrum about Julie and The Phantoms and that we could use that against him in our contract negotiations. And then, finally, I got on to twitter and got to watch a video of my best friend basically have clothed sex in a public place with her bassist! _Again!_ ”

If they’d been in a private space, Julie is sure Flynn would have been yelling at her. As it was, the frantically hissed words still managed to convey her extreme displeasure with this series of events. 

Julie winced and rubbed at her eyes. “Ok, I can see how that looks bad—”

“Looks bad, Jules? _Looks?_ ” Flynn asked sarcastically, raising one eyebrow. “This whole situation is like next level bad. Baby’s first celebrity scandal. They grow up so fast.” Flynn pressed a hand over her heart and pretended to wipe a tear away from her eye.

“Shut up,” Julie tossed a sugar packet across the table at her friend, but she missed and it bounced off the edge of the booth. 

Flynn stuck her tongue out. “Alright, so spill the tea. I expect to hear the full story, from the top, including the part where you blatantly lied to me and then avoided me. And so help me God, Jules, if I think you’re lying to me again, I will walk out of this restaurant and the next time you see me it will be when I’m bleaching your hair in your sleep.”

Julie didn’t doubt that threat for a single second. One time, Flynn had superglued every item on Carrie’s desk to the ceiling of their dorm room, including the desk. And Flynn was _dating_ Carrie.

So she came clean about everything. Told Flynn the whole story, from the accidental paparazzi picture that started this whole fake relationship scheme, to all of the adorable dates that Reggie took her on, to Luke’s weird moodiness, to finally describing how last night had gone completely off the rails. It was like once she opened her mouth, all the feelings that had been building up inside of her spilled out uncontrollably. 

Why had she ever tried to lie to Flynn? What a terrible plan on her part.

Although, looking back, it seemed like all of her plans had been terrible.

“…so then I went to look for Luke, but he was with this random girl! He brought her backstage and was _flirting_ with her, doing his whole, you know, _thing_ with his smile and his eyes and I just, I dunno…”

“Just lost your damn mind and decided that, instead of talking about your feelings, you should take a bunch of shots and make out with Reggie where every fan with a camera could record it?” Flynn asked bluntly over her cup of tea.

Julie grimaced. “Ok, when you put it like that it sounds dumb.”

“That’s because it is dumb, Julie. Everything about this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my whole life. But please, continue,” Flynn gestured with her fork. “This is going to make a hilarious chapter of your autobiography.” 

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t.”

“No, I don’t,” Julie sighed. “I guess I just wanted to make Luke jealous, like I was jealous. But then Reggie was just…I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Try me.”

She took a bite of bacon and chewed slowly, trying to figure how to describe her kiss with Reggie. The moment was sharp and bright in her memory, like his presence had been enough to cut through the tipsy haze she’d been in. She’d never be able to forget even a second of it.

“It was intense, I guess. Like he focused all his energy on me and nothing else mattered at all.”

Flynn hummed. “Sounds hot.”

“Yeah, surprisingly he’s a really good kisser?” Julie said, “He’s actually been so amazing for this whole thing? Like who would’ve thought that goofy, dorky Reggie would make such a perfect boyfriend, but he’s so good at it. He memorized my coffee order and posts the sweetest pictures on instagram and is always sending me funny or cute texts that he just says ‘made him think of me’ and he forces me to take breaks when we’re working to eat something and sometimes he just _looks_ at me like I’m something special…”

Julie trailed off, staring unseeingly down at her omelette. 

Flynn took a bite of her strawberry and banana crepes and waited her out.

“Oh my god, Flynn, is Reggie in love with me?”

“Finally, she catches up,” Flynn sighed exaggeratedly, setting her utensils down with a clank. “Yes, Julie, that boy is so gone on you that aliens from another dimension know about it. Why do you think his instagram is like that?”

“Like what?”

“Full of pictures of you! And stuff you like!” 

“What? No! That was just for the Operation Hashtag Rulie thing, it’s usually just like random photos.”

“Yeah, random photos of _you_ and _Luke_. God, you are so dumb.”

Julie felt a little like she’d been blindsided. “…and Luke?”

“Um, yeah, Reggie can’t take his eyes off your boy’s arms and like, honestly? I can’t blame him. I am perfectly happy being a lesbian but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate eye candy when I see it.”

A vision of Luke and Reggie kissing flashed before Julie’s eyes and she had to take a large drink of her ice water to combat the surge of heat that flooded through her gut at that mental image. Flynn smirked at her across the table like she knew _exactly_ what her friend was thinking about. Julie considered flipping her off, but this was a nice restaurant and she was getting tired of scandalous images of her on twitter. 

“Okay, but back to the real problem which is that I’m pretty sure I’m having feelings for both Luke _and_ Reggie! And after last night, I’m sure they both hate me and never want to see me again and this will be the end of the band and none of them will ever talk to me again and I’m going to die alone and unloved after I cry myself to a dehydrated death in the studio when they take all their instruments back and I’m left with nothing but a sad, lonely, empty garage.”

Flynn reached across the table and lightly smacked Julie upside the head. 

“Calm down, Jules, you’re catastrophizing. I can’t believe this is me saying this, but you’ve had way too much caffeine this morning,” Flynn said, gently nudging her coffee mug to the far side of the table. 

Julie took a deep breath, blinking rapidly to hold back the prickle of tears she could feel in the corner of her eyes. She couldn’t stop the small sniffle, however.

“What do I do, Flynnie? They’re my family, I can’t lose them.”

“Julie Molina, you beautiful idiot, do you even hear yourself right now?” Flynn’s face softened into smile and she reached across the table to take Julie’s hands in her own. “Both of those boys look at you like you personally hung every star in the sky. And even if they didn’t, Alex wouldn’t let the three of you break up the band over something so stupid.”

“You’re sure?” Julie asked softly.

“Absolutely, one thousand percent sure. I know everything, didn’t you get that memo?” 

Julie laughed and a tear dripped off the end of her nose to land on the edge of her plate.

Flynn said, “You know what you have to do now, don’t you? You have to actually pluck up that courage that I know is inside you and talk to them. Tell them what you told me, minus the dying a sad, lonely death part. ”

Julie tightened her grip on her best friend’s hands. She knew Flynn was right, just like deep down she knew Alex had been right to get help from someone who actually possessed a braincell. But it was still a terrifying feeling, thinking of opening herself up like that. 

Honesty was daunting, but there was only one unbreakable band rule: no secrets.

All three of them had broken it and look where it had gotten them.

When Julie looked up at Flynn, she was gazing at her with one eyebrow quirked up and a silent question written all over her face.

Julie nodded. “Yeah, okay, I’m ready to face the music, I guess.”

“That’s my girl. Let’s go get your mans!” Flynn cheered. “After I finish my mimosa, of course. You know you’re paying, right?”

“Did Alex promise you that? I think that means that he should pay.”

“Oh no, you’re not getting out of this, you owe me, like a hundred brunches for all my brilliant advice. And also for not being mad about the whole _lying to my best friend_ thing.”

“Okay, you’re right.”

“Damn straight I am.”

—

**JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS’ MANAGER MELTS DOWN OVER STARS’ SCANDALOUS NIGHT OUT** ****

Former one hit wonder and current owner of Covington Records, Caleb Covington, was spotted last night at the Hollywood Ghost Club, an exclusive jazz club, having what some might call a temper tantrum that included throwing several items of cutlery and breaking a chair. 

Sources who prefer to remain anonymous told _Rolling Stone_ that the dishes started flying after Covington got a notification that Julie and The Phantoms stars, Julie Molina and Reggie Peters, were trending on twitter after video was released of the two getting _very_ close. This is the second time in two months that these celebs have been caught in the act and it doesn’t seem like Covington is taking the news well. 

Several former clients of Covington Records have spoken out publicly about Covington’s domineering management style, as well as his notorious mood swings. It will be difficult for Covington to refute any future claims of mistreatment with the evidence supplied by last night’s episode. 

What does this mean for Julie and The Phantoms and their future with Covington Records? Only time will tell if they are able to move on from this or whether they’ll be stuck with Covington indefinitely. 

—

Julie wasn’t expecting anyone else to be in the garage studio when Flynn had dropped her off and told her to go inside and wait. But when she pushed open the doors, she could hear some slow melodic notes coming from the piano. And there was only one other person who had access to this space that could play the piano.

“Hey, Reg,” Julie said quietly, her voice echoing across the empty space between them.

Reggie’s head snapped up and his fingers slipped on the keys, hitting a loud discordant note that caused them both to wince.

“Julie,” Reggie breathed out.

He wore all of his emotions right on his face, and it was too much for Julie to look directly at right now. He was so open, so _soft_ , and she didn't want to face how much she had hurt him. 

A quick glance around the studio revealed a bunched up pile of blankets on the end of the couch and Reggie’s clothes from last night tossed over the chair. The studio had been a second home for the boys when they had been in high school, literally in Luke’s case, and they’d kept up the habit of having extra clothes and sheets stashed away.

“Did you sleep here last night?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I thought it might be awkward to go back to the apartment with Luke, so I came here. Force of habit, I guess.” 

“Oh, cool.” 

Had things ever been awkward between her and Reggie before? She couldn’t recall a time when he didn’t have something to say to make her smile or she couldn’t cheer him up. This was awful, she hated the way that the silence was stretching long and uncomfortable between them now. This tension was killing her and she had to say something, anything.

“I’m sorry!” they both blurted out at the exact same moment and then stood staring wide eyed at each other.

“Wait, what?” Julie asked. “What are you sorry about?”

Reggie ducked his head and Julie didn’t like that she couldn’t see him over the piano when he did that, so she walked over to sit on the bench next to him. She deliberately sat with as much space between them as possible though, because if she touched him she wasn’t sure she’d be able to make it through this without kissing him again.

“Reg? What are you sorry for?”

“You were drunk, Jules.” He looked at her with enormous eyes, shiny with gathering tears. “I knew you were drunk and I still kissed you. Still wanted to — well. I took advantage of you and you should hate me.”

Julie couldn’t help the slightly hysterical giggle that burst out of her. Reggie shot her a betrayed look, but lord they were such a mess, it was almost too ridiculous to be true.

“I don’t hate you, Reggie, I never could.” She reached out to gently run her fingers over the keys of the piano to stop herself from reaching for his hand. “You should hate _me_ , because if anyone’s been taking advantage of anyone, it’s me.”

Reggie’s face morphed into confusion. “What? That’s just — what? You never —”

“I did, though,” Julie sighed, cutting him off. “This whole fake relationship wasn’t fair to you. I should have told Caleb no. Instead I took advantage of your feelings for me for this big PR charade and I hurt you.”

“My — my feelings?”

“Please don’t lie to me, Reggie.” Julie turned to look at him, pleading with her eyes. “Rule number one, remember? No secrets in the band.”

Reggie made some sort of choked off hurt noise and stood abruptly from the piano, walking over to lean heavily against the arm of the couch, his back to her. 

“No secrets, Julie? What about your secrets, huh?” His voice sounded thick, like he was trying not to cry. “Okay, maybe I do have feelings for you, but at least I’m not planning on leaving the band.”

Julie felt like the world dropped out under her feet. 

And then — “What? Who’s leaving the band?” 

Of course Luke would walk in right then. He was standing in the doorway, backlit by the afternoon sun and he looked devastated, like he’d just heard the worst news of his life. 

Reggie laughed and it sounded strangled. “You! You and Julie!”

“ _What?!”_ Julie and Luke gasped in unison.

“Please, I’m stupid, not blind. Luke, you leave the secret songs you guys write all over the apartment, did you think I hadn’t seen them? And the countdown clock that’s always going on your phone? How you’re always whispering to each other about ‘post-Caleb plans’?” 

Reggie was crying for real now, tears making his voice wet but no less accusing when he said, “You’re planning on leaving us as soon as you can, when our contract with Caleb is up. And Alex will still have Willie, but I’m gonna be alone. So maybe I took this stupid relationship too seriously but it was only because I wanted something good to remember when you guys inevitably got too busy for me. I wasn’t gonna get an opportunity like this ever again.”

He sighed and swiped at his face with his sleeve, before sitting heavily on the couch. “Yeah, you figured me out, I’ve been in love with both of you for years, but don’t you dare lecture me about secrets, Julie.”

Julie’s world had turned completely upside down and the sheer insanity of Reggie’s words was giving her vertigo. She turned to face Luke, who looked just as helpless as she felt. 

“What the hell are you talking about, Reggie,” Luke asked, finally able to speak past the shock. “We’re all leaving Caleb as soon as we can. The whole band. That’s always been the plan.”

Luke marched over to the couch and practically tackled Reggie in the fiercest hug, arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders and face planted in his neck, so his words were muffled when he said, “I am never leaving you. Ever. You’re stuck with me for the rest of your goddamn life, Reggie Peters.”

The shocked look on Reggie’s face almost made Julie laugh, if her heart wasn’t still breaking at the idea that Reggie thought he’d be that easy to leave.

“Wait, really?” he asked, wonderingly.

“Yes, you goober,” Julie said, sitting cross-legged on the coffee table across from them. “I don’t know how we screwed our communication up so badly, to be honest. So let me be completely clear here: the second we can break our contract with Caleb, Julie and _all_ of her phantoms are jumping ship and Flynn is gonna help us get to a place where none of us have to hide or hurt anymore. We’re gonna make our music the way that we want to make it, and Reggie you have always been an integral part of that. No one is being left behind.” 

Julie could see the smile start to break across Reggie’s face and her own lips were curving up into an answering grin.

“And while we’re doing this whole honest communication thing,” Julie said, taking a deep breath and plowing forward with every bit of courage she could muster, “I’m tired of playing games and dancing around the truth, so here it is: I am also stupidly, wholeheartedly, and madly in love with both of you. And so we should figure out what to do with that too.”

“Me?!” Both of them squeaked in, honestly, hilarious unison, wearing nearly identical shocked looks on their faces. 

She couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up out of her, half relieved, half astonished. 

“Yes! That can’t be that hard to believe, can it? Flynn told me it was obvious.”

“Well, I guess we’re both pretty obvious about Luke, that’s true,” Reggie conceded.

“What?” Luke nearly shrieked, untangling his arms from around Reggie, but leaving his feet draped across his lap to whip his head frantically back and forth between them. 

“Luke, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. I’m the dumb one in the band, man.” 

“Stop calling yourself dumb, Reg,” Julie reached over and smacked his arm. “Luke, did you really not know, honey?”

“I just…” Luke shrugged and wave his hands somewhat helplessly. “I didn’t want to read into things. You know I have chemistry with everyone I sing with.”

“We’re the only ones you sing with, you idiot,” Julie said affectionately.

“Well, except for Alex, but you dated him too!”

Luke groaned, “For like two weeks when we were fourteen, can you stop bringing that up?”

“Never,” Reggie snarked.

“Sooooo….” Julie sing-songed, grinning mischievously. “Does this mean you like us too? Is that why you’ve been acting like a weird jealous caveman for the last couple of weeks?”

“I haven’t been acting jealous!” Luke protested weakly, but caved instantly when both Reggie and Julie shot him unimpressed looks. “Ok, maybe I’ve been a little jealous, but mostly I’ve been…” The tail end of his sentence trailed off into unintelligent mumbles when he buried his face in Reggie’s shoulder.

“What was that? You’ve been what?”

More mumbles. Reggie poked him in the side. 

“I said,” Luke muttered, pulling his bright red face away from its hiding spot, “I’ve mostly been turned on.”

The tension in the room seemed to triple instantly and Julie was having trouble getting a full breath in, with the way that statement seemed to knock the air out of her. One glance at Reggie’s pink face and she assumed he was feeling the same way.

“Turned on,” she said lowly, “because of us?”

Luke made an embarrassed high pitched noise that wasn’t quite a whine, but _god_ , now Julie wanted to know what it would take to make him whine. 

He had his head tilted back, staring at the ceiling and avoiding their gazes. “Yes, you two are just, so attractive? And when I saw That Picture, the one that started all of this, I couldn’t get it out of my head. And I am, like, _so_ sorry, I know you hate that picture and it was all just a misunderstanding, but I can’t even describe how much I wanted to be that van and have you both that close to me.”

Julie felt like her whole body was on fire; Luke’s description of That Picture made her want so much for it to be real. 

“Hey,” Reggie said, “you told me that day that you were just upset about people telling lies about the band.”

“I was!” Luke waved his hands frantically. “And I was also feeling left out by your instagram post, none of that was a lie! I just didn’t quite tell you guys the whole truth, which is that I was jealous of both of you and also constantly turned on seeing you together. Like a total creep.”

“So last night…?”

“I was this close to causing an even bigger scandal by joining in with you guys,” Luke grumbled, holding his fingers less than a millimeter apart. 

If this was some hangover-induced dream, Julie never wanted to wake up. She was feeling too many things all at once, an intoxicating mix of heated desire and giddy elation and more hope than she knew what to do with. If she was reading things right, she was about to owe Flynn so much more than brunch for setting all of them on the right path. 

“Ok, wait a minute, so let me get this straight—” Reggie snorted a laugh and Julie shushed him “—I love both of you. And Reggie, you love both of us. And, Luke…?” 

His eyes widened guiltily for a moment, before he scrambled to assure them, “Yes, I love you both too. I have for a while now, just was worried about making you uncomfortable. And the band came first, you know?” 

“Oh,” Julie whispered. Hearing him say that he loved her so blatantly made her heart thump funny in her chest. It wasn’t a bad feeling though, and she thought could get used to it. “I think you don’t have to worry about that.”

In a sudden burst of movement and a need to have them both closer, Julie decided she’d been outside their cuddle pile long enough and she moved to straddle Reggie’s lap, recreating their position from the night before, only this time Luke was there, curled into Reggie’s side and pressing in close to her. She heard him suck in a sudden breath when she trailed her hands down Reggie’s chest.

Oh wow, Luke really did like to watch them. Julie was going to have _so much fun_ with that.

“Hey fake boyfriend,” Julie said, teasingly, scrunching up her nose with her grin.

“Hey fake girlfriend,” Reggie shot right back, a playful light dancing in his eyes.

“What do you think about dropping the ‘fake’ part of our relationship and picking up a second boyfriend instead?” Julie ducked her eyes and bit her lip in a show of fake hesitancy.

“Well, Caleb would hate it and the gossip sites would go crazy,” Reggie hemmed and hawed, scratching at his chin like a huge dork. “What does the second boyfriend think?”

They both turned to look at Luke, who was watching them with the biggest, goofiest grin on his face, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe that it was really going to be these two, but also like he couldn’t imagine it any other way.

“I think you two are going to drive me crazy in the best possible way,” he said, finally.

Reggie crowed with laughter underneath her and Julie just smirked. “That’s the new plan, pretty boy. Now come here and kiss me.”

She kept one hand curled around Reggie’s neck, but she used the other to grab the front of Luke’s shirt and pull him to her, planting his lips square onto hers. 

Kissing Luke was everything she’d imagined it would be, but also so much better. She could never have predicted the tiny, soft noises that he seemed to make completely without realizing it and how addicting it would be to know that she caused them. Or the way his hands tangled in her hair and rubbed gentle circles on her scalp. Or how heady it was to know that Reggie was _there_ , watching them kiss, hand flexing where it was gripping her hip. 

She pulled back from Luke, needing to catch her breath, and Reggie didn’t waste a second, leaning forward to take her place against Luke’s mouth. Julie really understood then what Luke had been talking about because the image was like a gut punch of lust and love. Watching them kiss was almost hypnotic, the give and take of control, the way that Reggie just opened up under Luke’s mouth, going soft and pliant and so different from how he kissed her.

Julie couldn’t wait to learn all of their different kisses. 

When they finally broke apart, Luke sat back heavily against the couch, his face flushed and breathing labored. 

“Yeah, that was definitely — yeah, ok,” Luke said, somewhat dazed. “The second boyfriend is all in. If that’s what you guys want?”

Reggie caught her eye and then they were both grinning, giggling, happiness practically gushing out of them. This was everything Julie didn’t know she wanted but absolutely what she needed and her heart felt full enough to burst.

“Yeah, Luke, I want this so much,” she said. It was so freeing to just be able to tell them the truth without worry or fear or hesitation any more. How had they gone on so long being so blind to what was right in front of their faces?

“What she said,” Reggie grinned and hooked a thumb in her direction. “Although…”

“What?”

“Can you even imagine the stupid hashtag that instagram is going to come up with for the three of us?”

Julie couldn’t answer that, too busy kissing the dorky smile off of his face, while Luke giggled in the background.

Honestly, who cared about instagram?

—

**Epilogue: three hundred and thirty-one days (or so) later** ****

“Look what came in the mail today!”

Reggie practically bounced through the door of their apartment, very carefully holding a glossy magazine in his hands. He beelined to where Julie and Luke were sitting on the floor surrounded by a dozen or so piles of sheet music and very dramatically dropped to one knee to present the magazine to them.

Julie rolled her eyes but leaned over for a kiss while Luke snatched up the magazine, eager as always for presents. 

“Oh wow,” came Luke’s amazed voice. “It looks better than I ever expected.”

He turned around the magazine and held it up so they could see the front cover. So they could see _Luke_ on the front cover. 

In the photo, he was lounging against a pile of soft-looking white pillows, wearing only a pair of low-slung jeans, with his favorite blue guitar angled across his hips. His chest was bare, his scars unashamedly displayed. One hand was holding the fretboard of the guitar and the other hand was threaded in his hair, making it look artfully disheveled. He was grinning as he stared straight out of the page.

The photographer had done a great job of capturing Luke’s excited, playful personality and the bright joy that just shone out of his eyes, undimmed despite everything. Julie and Reggie had both been there for that photoshoot, and she remembered when they took this series of photos. The photographer had asked them to stand behind him, so that he could catch a few shots of Luke looking at them like they were the center of his world. 

She couldn’t imagine picking up this magazine and not instantly falling in love with the man on the cover. Who could resist falling into those eyes?

Across the bottom of the cover, the headline read “LUKE PATTERSON TALKS MUSIC, LOVE, AND PRIDE” in bold font. 

“It’s perfect, honey,” Julie said, blinking back tears she could feel at the edges of her eyes. It was the culmination of so much, of the wildest year of their lives and somedays, Julie still couldn’t believe that they’d made it this far, still together and more in love than ever. And then she looked at where Reggie had tackled Luke into a passionate kiss, both of them falling back onto their previously neat piles of sheet music and making a huge mess, and she thought, yeah, this was exactly where they were supposed to be. 

She crawled over to her boyfriends, setting the magazine somewhere it wouldn’t get squished so that they could read the article and have it framed later, and wiggled her way into their embrace. Reggie was smacking kisses over Luke’s forehead, cheeks, nose, eyelids, basically every part of his face that he could. 

“We — are — so — proud — of — you,” he said, in between kisses.

Luke couldn’t stop giggling, whether that was because of Reggie’s kisses or just the sheer delight of seeing his magazine cover be made into reality, Julie wasn’t sure, but she loved the sound of it. 

They all deserved as much joy as they could get. And they were finally free to embrace it.

“It’s an amazing picture, Luke,” she murmured, pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

Luke grinned at her and then somehow managed to roll them all over so he was on top of their cuddle pile. 

“Yeah it’s a great one,” he said, “but I think I like the one in the article even more. Even if it’s not quite as racy as you two usually get when the media is involved.”

Julie and Reggie both shared an affronted look and then, without needing to discuss it, both of them attacked Luke with tickles and kisses, until they were all crying from laughing so hard, which then morphed into finding other things to do with fingers and mouths that didn’t require so many clothes. 

The article could wait for later.

—

**LOVE AND MUSIC: Luke Patterson Talks About His Coming Out Journey** ****

[Image description: The photo is a black and white image of a man sitting cross-legged on a wooden floor in front of a white wall. He is shirtless, wearing only a pair of jeans, and grinning with his eyes closed. On his left, a woman is kneeling next him, kissing his cheek, so her face is only seen in profile. On his right, another man is doing the same thing. The only thing in color in the photo is a small transgender pride flag painted on the center man’s left cheek and a pansexual pride flag painted on his right cheek. The other man and woman both have bisexual pride flags painted on their cheeks, which are also in color. All three of them are holding hands.]

_An Excerpt:_

**Out Magazine:** This year has been pretty wild for Julie and The Phantoms. It’s not easy to change labels in the middle of working on a new album, can you tell us more about what prompted the change?

**Luke Patterson:** We signed with Covington Records when we were very young and first starting out in the business, so none of us had any experience with record companies. We really felt, as a band, that the music we wanted to make didn’t match the vision that the label had for us, so we parted ways.

**OM:** This was after the somewhat infamous performance at the Orpheum last year?

**LP:** I don’t know if I would call it infamous, but it was certainly memorable! 

**OM:** I’ll say! After all the social media rumors that circulated regarding you and your bandmates being in various relationships, I’m not sure that anyone expected the announcement that all three of you were in one relationship, especially not on stage. What made you decide to come out like that?

**LP:** I make fun of Reg and Julie all the time for their “getting caught kissing” photos, but they said I was just jealous. It wasn’t really a conscious thought, I just looked over and noticed how gorgeous they both looked at the end of our show and the next thing I knew I was kissing them both on stage! Honestly though, Alex really paved the way for all of us when he publicly proposed to Willie. None of us wanted to hide anymore when we saw what a positive impact they were having for our young fans. So when Julie and Reggie came out in their instagram post, I was left trying to figure out how I wanted my coming out to look. 

**OM:** And you chose a photoshoot?

**LP:** l wanted to show that I had nothing to hide. I’m a trans man and I’m proud of that. I’m also pansexual and I’m in a polyamorous relationship with the two most amazing people in the world. And I’m living my dream of getting to make music and share that music with the whole world. It’s not always easy, but I wouldn’t choose any other life. 

_At this moment, Julie Molina and Reggie Peters, Luke’s partners and bandmates, join us in their living room._

**Reggie Peters:** Honey, he called us amazing, I think he has a crush on us.

**LP:** Shut up, Reg.

**Julie Molina:** It’s so cute when he blushes. He pretends to be a tough rockstar, but he loves pet names.

**LP:** Please don’t put this in the article, I’ll never live it down. 

_The three of them spend some time squabbling over what other embarrassing stories they could tell, the way that long time couples do. It’s affectionate and playful. Their love for each other is obvious even after knowing them for only a few hours. It is truly a beautiful sight._

**OM:** You guys are too sweet, I think my readers will have cavities. Speaking of your music though, can you give us any details about the upcoming album?

**RP:** We are all so excited to share our new album with everyone. It really speaks to all of our coming out journeys, and the unexpected twists and turns that we faced along the way.

**JM:** Ultimately, though, we wanted the album to be a love song to the queer identities that we all have and we’re all proud of. Destiny Management has been so supportive of our vision for this album at every step, we are so happy to be working with them.

**LP:** We decided that a portion of the proceeds of every album sold will be going to help support LGBTQ+ youth in Los Angeles, our hometown. I was lucky to have these guys as a teenager, when I was experiencing difficulties with my home life, but many other trans kids wind up on the street and are at much higher risk for violence, substance use, and mental health disorders. This truly wonderful and vibrant community has supported us and our music for years, so now it’s our turn to help out and give back to them. 

**OM:** That’s really wonderful, you guys. I’m looking forward to getting to hear the full album. Anything you want the fans to know?

**LP:** Don’t give up. There is hope and life and love waiting for you out there, even if everyone is telling you it’s impossible. All my life, I was told that my dreams were unrealistic, but here we are, making our music, loving each other, and getting to do it openly and proudly. Nothing’s impossible, I promise. 

_Finally Free, the second studio album from Julie and The Phantoms will be available on May 1. The first single, My Name Is Luke, is available now to stream._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a wrap folx! Thank you so much for coming on this journey with me, this was wild and fun and I enjoyed writing something a little more lighthearted and ridiculous. 
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who's left a kudos or a comment - knowing that I wasn't just being crazy with my Reggie/Julie love was so nice! Everyone's kind words are so humbling and they make my heart burst with love for all of you <3 <3 <3
> 
> As always, if you wanna talk, have concerns, or just anything, feel free to come say hi on [tumblr](where-you-go.tumblr.com)!

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter titles are from "Honest" by The Band CAMINO, which is such a good fake dating song.
> 
> Come say hi on [tumblr](where-you-go.tumblr.com)!


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